Odd Future

Who would believe that the boy christened Marshall Bruce Mathers III but who will forever be known as Eminem, has turned 40? What an impact he’s made in his life so far. The enfant terrible of the early Noughties, the first rapper to embrace and commercialise his whiteness to the full, he has become not only an unforgettable part of the hip hop narrative, but also an indelible presence in popular culture.

In the uber-macho and hetero-centric world of urban music, particularly in hip-hop, coming out as gay or bisexual isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence. So Frank Ocean’s decision to publish a heartfelt open letter on his Tumblr site this week revealing that his first love was in fact a man has significant implications.

Odd Future have done me a favour. I was watching “Rella”, the new video by the Californian rap outfit, and there it was, at 1:22: a smack delivered to a woman’s face so hard that her head snapped to one side.

OFWGTKA. No tongue talking here, nor any pig Latin. If you don’t know by now what this unpronounceable acronym means; then your time on your personal ‘blogosphere’ has been wasted. OFWGKTA is Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All; a name which seems like it’s come out of alphabetti spaghetti.

OFWGKTA. As an avid apostle of the urban blogosphere in 2011, those seven letters have followed me more than the letters MBDTF (‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’) did in 2010. Just as Kanye’s strange scrabble answer stood for far more than thirteen excellent tracks made in Hawaii, so this one has come to occupy a [...]

The Camden Crawl has come a long way since its arrival in 1995, when tickets were a mere £5 to see 20 bands playing gigs across five venues. This year it saw over 300 acts grace 50 venues across the trendy North London area, and it didn’t disappoint.